Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Coming soon to backs very much like YOURS — State Senator Marty Golden lurking behind YOU with big knives in the form of low income housing

This time it's for the "Homeless" — But, more is coming from the developers for other categories of "low & middle income" folksCitizens from Bay Ridge and other areas, who make up the backbone of the conservative Republican support for State Senator Martin Golden, are about to get a series of knives in the back from “their” state senator — “ The [de Blasio] plan calls for about 7,500 newly constructed apartment buildings and 7,500 “scattered site units.” — Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin Golden (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Marine Park) promises “... to develop even more...”For some very ulterior reasons Golden looks like he has completely signed onto to a lot of low-income housing for Southwest Brooklyn — Marty Golden’s newest allies call local communities and local planning boards “... pains in the ass...” for their opposition to all or parts of the plan

By now, most of you have heard about Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin Golden’s appearance with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday; or seen State Senator Golden’s beaming visage next NYC’s Mayor on the local news broadcasts ( See e.g., “Mayor de Blasio announces $2.6B supportive housing plan for NYC – without support of state” by Erin Durkin, 11/18/15, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mayor-de-blasio-announces-2-6b-supportive-housing-plan-article-1.2439827}).

GOLDEN SHOWS HIS SUPPORT FOR DE BLASIO’S $2.6 BILLION HOMELESS PLAN

According to the report in the Daily News — “.... Asked about the breakdown of talks with the state, de Blasio suggested his rival, Gov. Cuomo, was to blame — saying both houses of the Legislature have shown “extraordinary” support.... ‘It’s rare, this level of agreement within the Senate, within the Assembly,’ said de Blasio, who was flanked by state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) in addition to Democratic pols. ‘I don’t want to speak for anyone else, in terms of how they make their decisions. I think we’re seeing a lot of leadership from the Legislature.’...”

Here’s how the NY Observer dealt with Marty Golden’s support of the mayors’s homeless housing plan: “.... Mr. de Blasio was joined by Republican State Senator Martin Golden, who praised Mr. de Blasio and called for the creation of more supportive housing, and the mayor argued that showed there was bipartisan support in the Legislature—implying that the holdup was with the governor....” ( See “City Moves Forward Without the State to Build Housing for the Homeless, by Jillian Jorgensen, 11/18/15, Observer/News [http://observer.com/2015/11/city-moves-forward-without-the-state-to-build-housing-for-the-homeless/]).

According to the Observer report — “.... The plan calls for about 7,500 newly constructed apartment buildings and 7,500 “scattered site units.”

A report in “J*P Updates” characterized Republican State Senator Golden’s support of Mayor di Blasio’s homeless housing plan as being “...in de Blasio’s corner...” The J*P Update’s article said that “... [a]mong those in de Blasio’s corner were Sen. Martin Golden and Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn Heights), who commended his efforts in cleaning up the streets.... ‘Supportive housing will be an effective long-term solution to our growing homeless problem, providing an environment in which we can deal with the homeless with dignity, respect and care.’...” ( See “De Blasio Fights NYC Homelessness with 15,000 Housing Support Units
by Ryan Haas, 11/18/15, J*P Updates [http://jpupdates.com/2015/11/18/de-blasio-fights-nyc-homelessness-with-15000-housing-support-units/]).

HERE’S WHAT GOLDEN HIMSELF SAYS ABOUT SOME OF IT

“Republican State Senator Marty Golden considers the plan to be an effective, long-term solution. ‘Not only are individuals provided with safe clean housing, they are offered counseling and programs to provide the necessary help to address their individual needs. I commend Mayor Bill de Blasio for his commitment of 15,000 units over 15 years and I am confident that New York State will agree to develop even more. Supportive housing provides an environment in which we can deal with the homeless with dignity, respect and care.’...” (See “Brooklyn Pols Hail De Blasio Creation Of Supportive Housing” by Lenore Fedow, 11/18/15, Kings County Politics [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/brooklyn-pols-hail-de-blasio-creation-of-supportive-housing/]).

COMMUNITY OPPONENTS OF CITY’S CURRENT $2.6 BILLION HOMELESS HOUSING PLAN CALLED “...PAINS IN THE ASS [ ]...”

Also contained in the News report cited above is this politician’s view of community opposition to the mayor’s housing plan: “... there are ‘people in the neighborhood who are pains in asses when it comes to siting a place for the building[s] — pains in the asses!’ [That politician] urged supporters to register to vote and get active on their community boards right away to counteract the eventual opposition.” That politician, Manhattan leftist Borough President Gale Brewer is one of State Senator Golden’s and Mayor Bill di Blasio’s allies in this homeless housing program.

WHY IS MARTY GOLDEN DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS ???

Golden now sees himself principally as a power in Albany; but at the same time, he’s terrified of an attack from the left in his old bailiwicks in Southwest Brooklyn. By siding with various leftish advocacy groups, liberal establishment Democrats >>> and building developers <<< Golden is trying to head off or minimize support for any strong left-of-center Democratic candidate for state senate in the 22nd SD in 2016, like Andrew Gounardes in 2012.

20 comments:

It was by OPPOSING "scattered site" low income housing that a young and conservative leaning Democrat named Mario Cuomo got his start in politics. It's almost come full circle with the only semblance of OPPOSITION coming from Governor Andrew Cuomo the former HUD low-income housing guy.

UPDATE: THE "ACCORDING TO THE NY POST -- MARTY GOLDEN SIGNED ON TO 'BILL DE BLASIO'S ... SMOKE AND MIRRORS'" EDITION

According to an editorial in today's NY Post --- "Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to address New Yorkers’ disgust with his handling of homelessness with . . . smoke and mirrors.... Poll after poll shows massive public disapproval of the mayor’s performance on this issue. But he refuses to change his approach.... On Wednesday, de Blasio rolled out a “new” $2.6 billion plan to build 15,000 apartments for homeless families and singles with substance abuse, mental illness or other problems. Residents will get “supportive services” to help with those issues.... Crisis over? Not even close.... For starters, little is truly new here: The city already has thousands of such units, and some of the “new” funds were already budgeted.... Plus, the plan is for 15,000 units over 15 years. The first newly built apartments won’t be ready for 18 months...." ( See "Bill de Blasio’s ‘fix’ for the homeless is smoke and mirrors" by Post Editorial Board, 11/18/15 [Print Edition 11/19/15], NY Post/ Editorial [http://nypost.com/2015/11/18/bill-de-blasios-fix-for-the-homeless-is-smoke-and-mirrors/]).

If you saw SSMG's photos next to the mayor that accompanied the articles cited above, or the video of the event, you'd know that our Bay Ridge state senator was smiling as only Marty can on such occasions. This time it looks like he really enjoyed having smoke blown up his ass --- after all, it was by the Mayor of New York City.

The parking lot behind 9000 Shore Road {actually on Colonial Road between 89th & 91st Streets) is not only in the 22nd Senate District, it is right in the middle of the Shore Road section of Bay Ridge. Developers want to change the zoning of the parking lot in order to build a third tower there for "affordable housing" (low & middle income).

At that time, I mentioned this: “.... Mayor DeBlasio let the cat out of the bag on the bigger plan when he said that planners intended to change zoning to put more low-income, high-rises in various spots around the city -- intrinsic to that plan was to use parking lots on existing ‘low and moderate income’ housing sites. One such site mentioned is located on Colonial Road, between [89th and 91st Streets], it's now the parking lot for 9000 Shore Road -- the twin ‘Shore Hill’ senior housing towers.... Get the picture..... Forget about the long-time Bay Ridge special zoning to keep housing density low in this corner of Brooklyn --- all the "do gooders" have made up their minds, that's over or soon will be....” (See “RESPONSE: THE ‘VOTE FROM THE CONEY ISLAND PROJECTS’ EDITION” ON OCTOBER 26, 2015 AT 2:15 PM* in the comment thread to my 11/24/15 post, “Playing the game, Two Degrees Of Joe Hynes, is an interesting way to track down some of the current political alignments in Southwest Brooklyn....” below in this blog).

BACKFILL - BACKGROUND & BACK STORY: THE “WHAT STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN’S STAB IN THE BACK TO HIS HOME-OWNER SUPPORTERS AND OTHERS WHO WANT TO MAINTAIN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER IS REALLY ALL ABOUT” EDITION

HINT: IT’S MUCH MUCH MORE THAN THE RE-ANNOUNCEMENT OF PREVIOUSLY FUNDED AND APPROVED “SUPPORT HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS”

GOLDEN’S BROADER ALLIANCE WITH MAYOR DE BLASIO AND DEVELOPERS MEANS A DENSER POPULATION AND MORE “AFFORDABLE” UNITS IN NEW PROJECTS SCATTERED IN ALL KINDS OF NEIGHBORHOODS — BUT A LOSS OF HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS IN BASICALLY ONE- TWO- AND THREE-FAMILY NEIGHBORHOODS LIKE BAY RIDGE, DYKER HEIGHTS, GRAVES END AND MARINE PARK

For some background and an overview of why Brooklyn Republican State Senator Marty Golden was standing next to ultra-liberal Mayor Bill deBlasio earlier this week; and also a lot of what the so-called conservative Republican state senator from Bay Ridge and points South and East in Brooklyn might have been smiling about, look at a NY Times story from about a year-and-a-half back (See “De Blasio Sets a 10-Year Plan for Housing, Putting the Focus on Affordability” by Mireya Navarro & Michael M. Grynbaum, 5/5/14, NY Times/ Region [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/nyregion/de-blasio-affordable-housing-plan.html?_r=0]).

This is a seminal article for anybody that might want to question State Senator Golden and/or his staff about Golden’s position on any and all of this. The Times article talks about the need for cooperation with state government; also, how developers need to be on board and that tax incentives from Albany would be necessary; and importantly, it shows how it will be a far more ambitious and far less “voluntary” housing program than the earlier housing programs supported by former Mayor Bloomberg.

Some of those past housing deals landed Golden in hot water [they were fully discussed by articles in the city-wide and local press, as well as in several earlier posts on this blog]. So our conservative Republican state senator needs to be completely questioned about all of this. And Golden needs to be especially forthcoming and open about everything that he actually signed-on for in de Blasio’s larger housing program.

Gail, there was another Post editorial about the mayor's housing plans. Even though it looks pretty bad, here's why Marty G is behind it, both developers and the construction unions want it.

This scatter-site low income housing scheme should be death in a GOP primary, whether it's Goldie in 2016 or Quags in 2017. If John Quaglione doesn't resign his position on Golden's staff, immediately over this, it means he's on board for the mayor's low-income scatter-site plan for high rise projects around Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, starting right around the corner from where Mr. Quaglione lives.

BROOKLYN REPUBLICANS & CONSERVATIVES NEED TO GET A >>>CLARIFICATION<<< OR >>>EXPLANATION<<< FROM STATE SENATOR GOLDEN AND EACH AND EVERY MEMBER OF HIS STAFF ABOUT THIS

NOBODY THAT CALLS THEMSELVES "REPUBLICAN" AND/OR "CONSERVATIVE" SHOULD BE FOR THIS LOW-INCOME HOUSING PLAN IN ANY WAY

Comment maker "Anonymous said... at 6:06 PM..." is not being fair by singling out John Quaglione among the Marty Golden crew; however yesterday's NY Post is certainly worth a read

The Editorial Board of the NY Post is all over this scatter-site housing program of the mayor's (and apparently based on last week's appearance with the mayor, now State Senator Marty Golden as well) (See "A city revolt against the mayor’s ‘affordable housing’ schemes" by Post Editorial Board 11/21/15 [in print edition 11/22/15], NY Post/ Opinion [http://nypost.com/2015/11/21/a-city-revolt-against-the-mayors-affordable-housing-schemes/]).

State Senator Martin Golden and each and every member of his crew need to clarify and explain to everybody in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Graves End and Marine Park what is going on with the state senator and his plans to go along with one of the worst ideas that has ever come down the political pike. Special emphasis and pressure need to be put on the likes of Jerry Kassar, Golden's Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party; and yes, John Quaglione, who fancies himself as a once and future candidate for public office.

--- But nobody in the Golden cabal should be spared from tough questions, including the likes of Ted Ghorra, who thinks he's some kind of "leader" in the Brooklyn Republican Party.His house is not far from one of these prospective projects, what does he think about all of this ???

How ironic that the one Republican elected official who was warning Southwest Brooklyn about affordable housing coming was ex-Congressman Grimm. Gale, isn't a parking lot that borders 86th street also on the list of sites? Might want to check into that one.

IF I FIND OUT THAT JOHN QUAGLIONE AND BOB CAPANO ARE OPENLY SHAKING HANDS AT ANY EVENTS --- WHETHER THROWN BY THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OR OTHERWISE --- I WILL PUBLICLY ASK THEM FOR AN EXPLANATION OR CLARIFICATION ABOUT WHAT IT ALL MIGHT MEAN

SHAKING HANDS CAN EASILY BE CONFUSED WITH "HOLDING HANDS" AND I DON'T THINK THAT BOB AND JOHN SHOULD BE SEEN HOLDING HANDS --- NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT PER SE.

I hope commenter "Anonymous said... at 10:59 AM..." is satisfied with that.....

I BELIEVE AN 86TH STREET SITE WAS MENTIONED LAST YEAR IN A REPORT BY DEMOCRATIC BP ERIC ADAMS, WHO HAS BEEN MENTIONED AS ONE OF MARTY GOLDEN'S "ALLIES" IN THE QUEST TO BUILD "200,000" AFFORDABLE HOUSING UNITS OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS

I think that comment maker "Anonymous said... at 8:43 AM..." is right to be concerned that some people are looking at an "underutelized" municipal parking area on 86th Street in Bensonhurst.

The "B-hurst Bean" mentioned this back in 2014 when it did a feature about BP Eric Adams' report about sites in Brooklyn for "affordable housing" -- another area running through Bensonhurst was also mentioned: air-rights over the N-train corridor.... Yes, that does start on the edge of Dyker Heights before cutting into Bensonhurst.

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com